NFL playoffs, 2010–11
| Dates | January 8–February 6, 2011 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teams | 12 | ||||
| Games played | 11 | ||||
| Defending champions | New Orleans Saints | ||||
| Champions | Green Bay Packers | ||||
| Runners-up | Pittsburgh Steelers | ||||
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The National Football League playoffs for the 2010 season began on January 8, 2011. The postseason tournament concluded with the Green Bay Packers defeating the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLV, 31–25, on February 6, at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
This was the first time that the new postseason overtime rules were in effect, although none of the playoff games this season ended up going into the extra session. Under the new changes, instead of a straight sudden death, the game will not immediately end if the team that wins the coin toss only scores a field goal on its first possession (the game will end if they score a touchdown). Instead, the other team gets a possession. If the coin toss loser then scores a touchdown, it is declared the winner. If the score is tied after both teams had a possession, then it goes back to sudden death. This was only the second post-season in NFL history that included a team with a losing record, and the first to occur with a full regular season, when the Seattle Seahawks won their division with a 7–9 record; only the 1982–83 NFL playoffs had previously included teams with a losing record, and that was after a strike-shortened season.
Unless otherwise noted, all times listed are Eastern Standard Time (UTC−05)
Within each conference, the four division winners and the two wild card teams (the top two non-division winners with the best overall regular season records) qualified for the playoffs. The four division winners are seeded 1 through 4 based on their overall won-lost-tied record, and the wild card teams are seeded 5 and 6. The NFL does not use a fixed bracket playoff system, and there are no restrictions regarding teams from the same division matching up in any round. In the first round, dubbed the wild-card playoffs or wild-card weekend, the third-seeded division winner hosts the sixth seed wild card, and the fourth seed hosts the fifth. The 1 and 2 seeds from each conference then receive a bye in the first round. In the second round, the divisional playoffs, the number 1 seed hosts the worst surviving seed from the first round (seed 4, 5 or 6), while the number 2 seed will play the other team (seed 3, 4 or 5). The two surviving teams from each conference's divisional playoff games then meet in the respective AFC and NFC Conference Championship games, hosted by the higher seed. Although the Super Bowl, the fourth and final round of the playoffs, is played at a neutral site, the designated home team is based on an annual rotation by conference.
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